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Stranger Things Wiki:Style Guide
For article organization and adding content to specific sections, please see the Article Layout Guide. The Style Guide explains the basic guidelines for creating and adding content to articles. This guide ensures that all information on the wiki will be more consistent and organized. The criteria on this page must be upheld for all articles. Please keep in mind that some of the policies on this page are subject to change. Articles Content One majority of the wiki's content will simply be derived from the source material, while the other majority will be from interviews and other official statements from the cast and crew. *'Verifiable:' Any information on this wiki must be verifiable and come from official sources. Those sources must be cited. All information must be officially revealed. No information from leaks or untrustworthy sources will be permitted on the wiki. *'Canonical:' This wiki focuses on canon. This is not a place for fanon content, with the only exception being for use on User profiles. Avoid inserting “headcanons” or personal opinions. *'Speculation:' Speculation and theories should be absent from main article sections. Minimal speculation should only be applied when necessary and must be somewhat supported by hints present in canon. **Fully-fledged theories may only be permitted in designated "Theories" sections. Writing Keep in mind when writing for articles that the main purpose is to record information. The writing should be comprehensible, but not too overly complicated or "fancy". *'Language:' Formal language should be used. Avoid using any slang or overly casual tones. Language should also be straightforward and unambiguous. *'Neutrality:' Articles should be written from a neutral point of view even when writing for antagonists or describing acts that could be seen as malicious. *'Tense:' Most pages on the wiki will be written in past tense to further express the show's time period. One major exception is the "Plot" section on episode pages. *'Spelling:' This wiki allows both American and British spelling. However, the American spelling for some words may potentially be more common. *'Terminology:' American terminology should be used when referring to objects, especially if they are addressed as such in the series. Text Formatting Bold Bold text will be used in article introductions where the first instance of a subject's name, or its equivalent, will be bold. If an article has numerous sections and subsections, bold text can be used to help readers distinguish between sections. Italics Italics should be used when naming a piece of media. Films, books, games, and even the show's title itself should be italicized. Parts of character quotes can also be italicized for emphasis. Naming Pages Capitalization: *When naming pages, this wiki uses sentence case. Exceptions to this are character names, episode titles, and any other official titles. Character Pages: *When naming character pages, any titles and honorifics should be absent. *If a character's first name has not been given, then the page should use their surname. *Some character articles will be named after what the character is mostly known by, or what they mostly refer to themselves as. **While Mike's real name is Michael, his page is named “Mike Wheeler” because that is what he refers to himself as, as well as what most people call him. **Eleven's page is not named “Jane Ives” or “Jane 'Eleven' Ives” because she has no knowledge of that name. Like Mike, she is usually called Eleven and thus her article is named "Eleven". Similar names: *If multiple subjects have similar names, each page should be given a different title from the primary topic, placing the distinguishing title in parenthesis. **The page about the show's alternate dimension is titled “The Upside Down”, while the page regarding the episode is named “The Upside Down (episode)”. Unnamed Subjects: *Sometimes, a subject may go unnamed in the show. In these cases, either the most appropriate name should be given, or a name should be agreed upon by the community. *A notice should also be placed at the top of the page to notify both readers and editors that the name is non-official and subject to change. The template should be used in these cases. Citing Sources Any information that is not lifted directly from the source material must be cited. References must come from reliable sources. Reliable sources can include: *Episodes. *Official interviews with the cast and crew. *Posts made by any of the show's official social media accounts. *Posts made by any of the cast and crew's social media accounts. *Videos posted by the official Netflix YouTube channel, or other credible channels. *Videos of the cast at comic con panels. (While posted by unofficial sources, they still contain official statements.) When citing a reference, the content must be placed between tags. For example: content goes here It is extremely important that the reference links to the original source. They should also have the name of the website where the source was published, as well as the date it was published. A typical reference should follow this format: ”Source Title” Website. Date. If something doesn't have a reference, the template should be used. Media Naming Files: : All files should be named appropriately for the convenience of editors. File names should be somewhat descriptive, at least mentioning the episode and/or character. Avoid profanity and long chains of random numbers. : Examples of acceptable file names include: :* Stranger Things 1x01 – The Monster on Mirkwood.jpg :* The Vanishing of Will Byers S01-E01 SS 003.png :* Ep1-Will Byers.png :* Chapter One – Dustin and Will race.jpg Images: : All images on the wiki (excluding images that are uploaded for personal use) must come from official sources. They should be of a decent size and the best quality possible. Uploading in .png format is preferred, but not required. Videos: : Videos will only be used in certain sections of the wiki, such as the trailers section on season pages, the appropriate section on gallery pages, and on the wiki's main page. Gifs: : Gifs should only be used in articles if a still image cannot accurately convey a subject. They must be of decent quality and have no extraneous filters applied. Also take care that they do not have intense flashing images that could trigger a person's visual epilepsy. While their use should be scarce, the use of gifs is somewhat more acceptable on gallery pages. Templates Templates make it so information can be easily duplicated to numerous pages. They can be used for navigation, page design, displaying data, etc. Infoboxes Infoboxes basically summarize the content on pages. If the page requires an infobox, then it should be the first thing placed on the page. Certain page types will require a certain infobox (e.g. a character page must use the character infobox). Any fields that are unknown should be left blank. * Please see Category:Infobox templates for the wiki's complete list of infobox templates. When an infobox is placed on a page, the source code will be positioned horizontal by default. It is preferred that the source code go vertically. Incorrect: Correct: Navboxes Navigation boxes serve as a directory for similar articles on the wiki. Navboxes should be placed at the ends of articles, after the References section and before Categories. The navboxes should only be placed on the appropriate articles (a location page should not have the character navbox). * – This is the navigation box for episodes. * – This navigation box should be placed on character pages. * – This navigation box is for articles relating to the Upside Down. Season Appearances The Season Appearance templates are for the "Appearances" section on character pages. When entering the fields, enter “yes” for episodes the character appears in, and “no” for episodes where the character is absent. However, if the character is shown or heard indirectly in an episode, then “note” should be entered in the field. This will make a “'*'” appear next to the episode's title. A small note should be written below the template explaining how the character was depicted. * * Notices Notices help both editors and readers know the status of a section or article. If a notice needs to be at the top of a page, then it should be placed above the infobox, considering the page has one. * Please see Category:Notice templates for the wiki's complete list of notice templates. Gallery Page Templates These are templates used exclusively for/on gallery pages. Some of the templates listed here were created using the template. * – This template serves as a link to the gallery page. It will be placed at the top of the usual gallery section on a page. * – This appears at the top of the page and displays the rules of adding photos to the galleries. This template should be added to the page before anything else. * – Creates headers for galleries. * – Creates subsection headers for galleries. When or When Not to Create an Article While it's true that the wiki's purpose is to be a place to house and obtain information, it's important to remember that this is the Stranger Things Wiki. All articles on this wiki must be related and relevant to ''Stranger Things''. However, that does not mean that every single character or item mentioned in the series is necessarily important enough to get their own page. The series also often has references to real-life people and media, especially those that inspired it. While these references are interesting and should definitely be mentioned, that doesn't mean they warrant their own article. *'Relevancy:' This will be the main factor when figuring out if a subject should have its own page. Was the subject relevant to the show/story? Did it play a major role, or was it just mentioned in a passing line of dialogue? The sensory deprivation tank deserves its own article because it played a vital role in the story; it was how Eleven entered her mental void where she made contact with the Monster, opening the rift to the Upside Down. Meanwhile, the Atari Will receives for Christmas doesn't need a dedicated article as it was only mentioned in passing and is not important to the overall story. *'Information:' Is there enough information on the subject to warrant an article? If only two or three sentences can be written about the subject, odds are it shouldn't have an article. *'Integration:' While the subject may not require its own article, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be mentioned at all. If the subject is related to another bigger, more important topic, then it can be integrated somewhere on that topic's article either as its own section or a subsection. *'Combination:' Sometimes, if there are multiple similar subjects that alone do not have enough information, they can be combined into a single article. The "Cultural influences and references" and "Minor Characters" articles are good examples of this.